TECHNIQUE FOR FORMING COPPER-CONTAINING LINES EMBEDDED IN A LOW-K DIELECTRIC BY PROVIDING A STIFFENING LAYER

摘要

By providing a stiffening layer (105) at three sidewalls (1055) of a trench (104) to be filled with a copper-containing metal, the reduced thermomechanical confinement of a low-k material (102) may be compensated for, at least to a certain degree, thereby reducing electromigration effects and hence increasing lifetime of sophisticated semiconductor devices having metallization layers including low-k dielectric materials (102) in combination with copper-based metal lines.